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California Primary Elections 2012

Voters across California will head to the polls on Tuesday, June 5 to nominate candidates for state and federal office. The state’s new primary system means the top two vote-getters will face one another in November – regardless of political party. Californians will also get their say on propositions related to term limits and a new tobacco tax.

Featured races

Los Angeles District Attorney

Five candidates running for Los Angeles County district attorney took to the stage of the Crawford Family Forum Tuesday evening to participate in a debate moderated by AirTalk host Larry Mantle, whose questions ranged from the death penalty to recidivism to medical marijuana.

He is by far the best known of the half-dozen candidates seeking to lead the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. But L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich promised when he got elected three years ago that he’d finish that job before running for another.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley is retiring after holding the seat for more than a decade. The six candidates seeking the top job are Chief Deputy District Attorney Jackie Lacey, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and Deputy District Attorneys John Breault, Bobby Grace, Alan Jackson and Danette Myers.

Congressional District 30: Berman vs. Sherman

Redistricting and a new top-two primary system that ignores party affiliation has pitted two longtime Democratic congressmen against one another in the House of Representative's 30th District in the San Fernando Valley.

Congressmen Howard Berman and Brad Sherman Tuesday faced off in an often sharply worded debate at Temple Judea in Tarzana. Redistricting has landed the two incumbent Democrats in the same San Fernando Valley district, touching off one of the hottest Congressional races in the country.

On June 5, voters will get a chance to tweak California’s term limits law. Prop 28 would reduce the total time a lawmaker can stay in Sacramento from 14 to 12 years, but it lets lawmakers serve all that time in either the Senate or the Assembly. The measure has reignited the debate about whether term limits that voters passed in 1990 are working in California.

Prop 28 seeks to change California Legislature’s term limits: Should term limits be tweaked in California? One state ballot measure up for vote on June 5 is Proposition 28, which seeks to reduce the amount of time a person may serve in the state legislature from 14 years to 12 years.

Cycling star Lance Armstrong is known for overcoming great physical challenges such as grueling cycling races and his tough fight with cancer, but now the seven-time Tour de France winner is taking on a Herculean battle of different kind… a legislative one.

California voters have been inundated with ads against Proposition 29. The referendum on the June 5 ballot seeks to raise taxes on cigarettes by $1 a pack. The proponents want to make tobacco more expensive so as to discourage young smokers, and to spend the tax revenue on cancer research, smoking cessation, prevention of tobacco-related disease and on law enforcement.

Next Tuesday, Californians will vote on Proposition 29, which would raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes from 87 cents to $1.87. Supporters say the money would go to cancer research and anti-smoking programs that would further lower smoking rates. But a recent federal study shows California uses a very small proportion of its tobacco funds on actually fighting smoking.

Congressional District 44:

Just one month after Rep. Janice Hahn was elected to Congress’ 36th District, a commission dismantled her district and pushed the former Los Angeles City Councilwoman into a race with fellow Democrat Rep. Laura Richardson.

Assembly District 50:

The newly created Assembly district that stretches from Hancock Park to Beverly Hills and Malibu is one of the wealthiest districts in the state, and now it is also home to an expensive fight between three high-profile Democrats.

Assembly District 46

An Assembly race in the San Fernando Valley is showing the Democratic party’s division over the future of public education as the California Teachers Association and local party leaders attack a well-funded pro-charter candidate.

Tuesday's vote will be the first ever statewide test of California's new open primary system. Voters created it when they passed Prop 14 in 2010. It means that in races for the US Congress and the state legislature, you can vote for any candidate you want regardless of party.

Because of redistricting, there are quite a few competitive congressional races in California this year — about a dozen seats are truly up for grabs. But redistricting has done nothing to shake up the race for U.S. Senate.

Tomorrow, California voters head to the polls to decide on a host of issues, including the hotly contested Proposition 29, which would raise taxes on tobacco. And there is a big showdown in the Valley, where two incumbent Democrats ended up running for the same seat after redistricting.